


The Pumpkin Spice is Gone

by Hpchemgrad



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 15:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13126752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hpchemgrad/pseuds/Hpchemgrad
Summary: Day 10 of the 12 days of Jily ChristmasPrompt #20 - I'm a barista and you are making your way through the entire holiday menu





	The Pumpkin Spice is Gone

“We’ve made it through pumpkin spice season once again.” Mary drawled as she put up the new menu boards. “Onto peppermint, gingerbread, and praline – what I wouldn’t give to serve up a simple latte again.” Lily replied airily. Being more art-inclined than her coworker, Lily was in charge of the Season’s Greetings décor; painting snow covered pine trees on windows and stringing up lights – carefully avoiding mentioning specific holidays by name and creating more of a colorful winter display. When they had finally finished their seasonal store changes, they set to cleaning up for the night, trading bets about which regulars would complain in the morning about the sudden disappearance of the precious pumpkin spice.  Each year was the same, Lily and Mary could attest to it. They had been working together at the coffee shop while they completed High School and began earning their degrees at the nearby College, and found it bittersweet that, as seniors, this would hopefully be their final pumpkin spice retirement. “You realize this will be our 6th Christmas explaining to customers that pumpkin spice is gone and our Christmas season flavors are here. And no, we do not, in fact, serve eggnog. We have never served eggnog. Our boss despises it and refuses to let any enter her shop.” Mary remarked as she locked the door. Lily snorted as she stood back to admire her decorative handiwork, “6th and final, Mary. Our last year serving coffee we can’t afford ourselves.” Mary hummed in agreement as they headed back to their shared apartment.

Just a few hours later, Lily was again behind the counter setting up for the upcoming day. The bell above the door jingled much earlier than she would have expected and a group of 4 boys, appearing to be her age, made their way in. 

Three of them clearly did not appreciate being conscious at such an early hour on a Saturday as the lone grinning member of the group ushered them toward the counter. The first to reach the counter let out a long yawn followed by a friendly smile and ordered a large house roast coffee – the simple order seemed to fit with his worn sweater and overall weary appearance. The next was a boy so effortlessly handsome that even the early hour, that he did not agree with, agreed with him. He smirked and rattled off an order that showed he knew exactly what he wanted, and what he wanted was complex and as personalized an order as possible. Lily didn’t mind, it was early and she found one of the only advantages of working at a coffee shop was that she could make her own drinks exactly as she wanted them, so she gave him a smirk of her own and repeated it back perfectly. She was satisfied by the almost imperceptible impressed eyebrow raise once she was finished. The next was a boy with a round face who seemed slightly out of place but nevertheless cleared his throat and asked for “a café mocha please… and don’t hold back on the whipped cream.” Lily grinned at his last minute addition to the order and nodded. Last of the group was “the grinner”. He was tall and lanky with large rimmed glasses and had been studying Mary’s newly written menu board as his friends ordered. He asked for a medium gingerbread latte and winked. Lily, while considering what the wink could mean, dutifully told him the total for all the drinks and he dropped his change into the tip jar. She was appreciative and went about making his drink (as her coworker Julie had already got the others), her last-first seasonal drink. 

Had the morning gone on quietly, Lily might have thought about the group of boys and start theorizing how the bespecled one was able to drag his friends so unwillingly out of bed; however, the morning did not go on quietly so the unusual boys were forgotten. As she and Mary predicted, no less than 3 patrons needed explanation that, “no, pumpkin spice is indeed gone” and “no, we are not hoarding a secret stash of it in our ‘back room’” and “no, sir, we did not take it off the menu as a personal attack on you.” In addition to those personally offended by the lack of pumpkin spice, several customers came in with a long list of orders, making the line move slowly and causing other customers to become increasingly disgruntled. Finally, noon approached and it was almost time for Lily to get a break and eat her peanut butter jelly sandwich. A boy with glasses and messy hair approached the register and Lily, still reeling from her crazy morning, thought there was a vague familiarity and did not realize who it was until after he ordered, with a slight blush on his cheeks, a medium praline latte followed by a wink. She suddenly recognized “the grinner” from earlier in the morning and paused, but ultimately decided to make his drink quickly instead of sparking conversation. He again deposited his change in the tip jar and Lily excitedly made her way to the back room – which was the storage place of her sandwich, not the remaining stock of pumpkin spice. 

The rest of Lily’s afternoon was dwarfed by a customer insisting that a holiday menu was incomplete without eggnog. While she was making the painful explanation to the same customer for the 4th time, “ma’am, we have never and will never have any eggnog or eggnog related products on our menu,” the bell chimed again and “the grinner” walked in. Lily motioned for the frustrating customer to move along and schooled her face from showing recognition as he ordered a cranberry iced tea with a wink. As she was about to hand him the drink, she nearly asked what possessed a person to visit the same shop 3 times in a single day, but was interrupted by crash of breaking glass and a shriek behind her. As she ran to see what had happened, she missed the grinner’s face fall slightly as he placed his change, once again, in the tip jar.

When Lily finally arrived home that night, she sat at her table and pulled out her Chemistry textbook and agonized over her upcoming final. She snorted to herself when she thought about the way she was spending her Saturday night; so much for crazy college parties.

The next morning, with barely any rest, Lily clocked in to work and turned on the Open sign. Not long after, “the grinner” appeared with the friend Lily would now refer to as “Mr. Particular” who ordered the same thing as the day before. “The grinner” ordered a medium peppermint latte and, predictably, winked. Lily raised her eyebrows and almost asked if he was going to sample their entire seasonal menu before the day was out, but was again interrupted as Mr. Particular crept behind “the grinner” and pinched his sides. “The grinner” stopped grinning after making a particularly high-pitched screech and instead turned an alarming shade of red. Lily turned to make the drinks to prevent herself from being overcome with giggles. From behind her she heard “Prongs, it was just a joke. You’re about the same color as her hair! It’s not like you’ll see her again.” And another voice replied, much quieter, “You know that’s not true, you absolute bastard.” Lily was puzzled but turned and presented the boys with their drinks, which they took and quickly scurried out of the shop.

Lily spent the remaining portion of her morning wondering what it would be like to have such disposable income that she could order several expensive drinks in one day while also leaving a generous tip, and wondered whether her frequent customer would return again after his embarrassment. Sure enough, when it was almost time for Lily’s lunch, “the grinner” returned and blushed when his eyes met Lily’s. He offered a small smile instead of his trademark grin and quietly asked for a medium peppermint mocha latte. This time, he waited until he deposited his change into the tip jar to offer a wink, as though he had needed to talk himself into it. By this point, Lily was on her 24th hour of work in 3 days, had finals looming over her head, had explained to 4 customers that eggnog had been purposefully left off the menu, had explained to 3 customers that pumpkin spice would return the following fall, and found the blush on his cheeks too charming to pass up; so, she decided she could not be held responsible for what she said as she handed “the grinner” his second drink of the day. “I’ll have your peppermint hot cocoa ready at 6 when I get off work – might as well complete the set, yeah?” His eyebrows raised in confusion, but as he took in Lily’s cheeky smile, his grin returned and he nodded, words seemingly failing him. He took his latte and began to walk away before abruptly turning around, “I’m James, by the way, is dinner alright?” Lily nodded and pointed to her nametag thinking to herself that this is how college students should behave. Studying be damned, she had a date.


End file.
